(a) Field
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) and a method for repairing an alignment layer, and particularly, to an LCD including an alignment layer having a repair layer filled in a pinhole, and a method for repairing an alignment layer in which a pinhole is defined.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (“LCD”) is one of flat panel displays which are currently most widely used, and generally includes two sheets of display panels in which field generating electrodes such as a pixel electrode and a common electrode are formed, and a liquid crystal layer is interposed therebetween. The LCD displays an image by applying voltages to the field generating electrodes to generate an electric field in the liquid crystal layer, thereby determining an orientation of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer and controlling polarization of incident light.
Among the LCDs, an LCD in a vertically aligned mode in which major axes of the liquid crystal molecules are aligned to be perpendicular to upper and lower display panels in a state in which an electric field is not applied to the liquid crystal layer has a high contrast ratio and a wide reference viewing angle, and therefore has received attention.
In order to implement the wide viewing angle in the LCD in the vertically aligned mode, a plurality of domains having different alignment directions of the liquid crystal may be formed in one pixel. As a method of forming the plurality of domains, a method of forming cutouts such as fine slits in a field generating electrode, a method of forming protrusions on the field generating electrode, etc., are used. These methods may form the plurality of domains by aligning the liquid crystal in a direction perpendicular to a fringe field by a fringe field formed between an edge of the cutout or the protrusion and the field generating electrode facing the edge.
The LCD in the vertically aligned mode may have degraded side visibility compared to front visibility. To solve the problem, a method of dividing the one pixel into two sub-pixels and making voltages of the two sub-pixels different has been proposed.
In order to make a response speed of the liquid crystal fast while implementing the wide viewing angle, a method of allowing a liquid crystal to have a pretilt in a state in which the electric field is not applied has been developed. To allow the liquid crystals to have the pretilts in several directions, an alignment layer having several alignment directions is used, or a reactive mesogen is added to the alignment layer or the liquid crystal layer and then light is irradiated to the alignment layer or the liquid crystal layer in the state in which the electric field is applied thereto, thereby forming the pretilt.